Azernews.Az

By Amina Nazarli

Launch of a direct flight between Naples and Baku will contribute to the strengthening of relations between Azerbaijan and Italy.

Mayor of Naples Luigi de Magistris has voiced the offer as he received an Azerbaijani delegation, Azerbaijan’s Embassy in Italy reported.

The two cities should develop tourism ties, said Magistris, further voicing his readiness to support the initiatives in development of fraternal relations between Naples and Baku.

The mayor of Naples further spoke about the Italian-Azerbaijani friendly relations and hailed the bilateral cooperation.

Azerbaijani Ambassador to Italy, Mammad Ahmadzadeh, in his turn, noted that the friendly relations between Azerbaijan and Italy are of the strategic partnership nature.

In turn, Member of Azerbaijan-Italy inter-parliamentary friendship group, MP Ganira Pashayeva thoroughly informed the mayor about Azerbaijan, emphasizing there is considerable scope for cooperation between Baku and Naples and expansion of ties in the economic, cultural and tourism spheres.

Pashayeva noted that Azerbaijan-Italy inter-parliamentary friendship group is one of the largest groups of friendship in the parliament and that the Azerbaijani state, government and parliament attach great importance to developing cooperation with Italy.

Vice-President of Naples-Baku Association Elnur Djamalhanov added that Italy, as the largest trading partner, is a close friend of Azerbaijan.

Currently, flights are performed from Baku to such Italian cities as Bologna, Cagliari, Milan, Rome and Venice.

Italy is one of the main partners of Azerbaijan in the energy sector. The Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) project is of great importance for Italy.

Italy, being one of the main economic and trade partners of Azerbaijan, as so far invested over $0.5 billion in the Azerbaijani economy, mainly in the energy sector.

The two countries have stepped up cooperation in other areas as well. In late 2016, Baku Steel Company (Azerbaijan) and Danieli (Italy) signed an agreement on the construction of a metallurgical complex in Sumgayit. The volume of investment would exceed $ 1.2 billion.

The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Italy amounted to nearly $1.9 billion in 2016, around 84 percent of which accounted for export of Azerbaijani goods to Italy, according to the Azerbaijani State Customs Committee.

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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli

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